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AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran
June 15th, 2011 | Author: Patriot
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran (but doesnt want the blame)
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran by Grant Smith -- Antiwar.com
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran
Posted By Grant Smith On June 14, 2011 @ 11:00 pm In Uncategorized | 14 Comments
Former AIPAC staffer Keith Weissman, indicted in 2005 under the Espionage Act alongside colleague Steven J. Rosen and Defense Department employee Col. Lawrence Franklin, is desperately worried. In a lengthy, rambling monologue delivered to independent reporter Robert Dreyfuss, Weissman breaks a long silence to declare hes concerned that if a confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran leads to war, it will be a disasterone that Weissman fears will be blamed on the American Jews. It is telling, but unsurprising, that Weissmanthrough misrepresentations and false dichotomyexhibits little concern for the broader potential consequence of war. Fortunately, his tired arguments are in a final lap toward oblivion.
AIPAC, in the business of advancing Israeli government policies in the United States ever since its founder left the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1951, has long portrayed itself as the sole distillery of Jewish policy needs to politicians eager to tap the Israel lobbys seemingly limitless barrels of campaign donations. But AIPACs brand has recently sprung a leak as growing numbers of youthful, creative, and noisy organizations challenge its tired claims of representation and even legitimacy. Weissmans actual concern is that AIPAC and its creaky constellation of affiliates will be blamed if the United States is successfully goaded or tripwired into an unnecessary war with Iran. Accountability has always been anathema for an organization operating more like a foreign intelligence agency than a tax-exempt social-welfare organization.
AIPAC has long brushed its footprints away from trapping pits into which it has successfully lured American taxpayers. The Los Angeles Times has lauded its donor secrecy, while Fortune called AIPAC calculatedly quiet. One anonymous AIPAC official even confided to The National Journal that there is no question that we exert a policy impact, but working behind the scenes and taking care not to leave fingerprints, that impact is not always traceable to us. According to the interview:
[Support for regime change] was the personal opinion of many people in AIPAC, but it never uttered the words regime change. And I think my efforts were part of the reason why they never did. How would it look anyway? This is what makes it so stupid! The American Jewish community choosing the next government of Iran? Helping to change the next government of Iran? How can that government have any legitimacy? Its completely ridiculous. And I think the arguments that I raised against it convinced AIPAC, no matter what they personally thought, they realized that what I was saying was right.
Weissmans overblown claims that he was a lone progressive hero fending off the Israel lobbys push for regime change from AIPACs Iran desk must be evaluated against the actual record. Dreyfuss notes that Weissman was indicted under the Espionage Act over AIPACs covert attempts to influence Iran policy, but he writes, Perhaps the full story of the Rosen-Weissman case, Franklins involvement, and what role was played by AIPAC and by Israel will never be known. Fortunately for readers, enough is now publicly known to discount Weissmans version, thanks to documents filed in Superior Court during a defamation suit last year.
According to court documents, Rosen and Weissman were both on a key phone call passing U.S. government classified information and spin to Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler in 2004. Rosen colorfully told Kessler that based on that information Iran was undeniably engaged in total war against the United States. Though AIPACs version of U.S. Iran assessments wasnt true at the time, and isnt true now, AIPACs motive for advancing it was clearto trigger U.S. military operations against Iran by stirring up American outrage through the establishment press. Weissman said nothing to deter Kessler from propagating the false threat.
Then, as now, Rosen and Weissmans operational concern was that they not suffer any consequences for shoveling tainted classified informationand that AIPAC not be implicated in the deed. Rosen told Kessler (with Weissman still on the line) that he was concerned about not getting into trouble [.pdf], meaning, as court documents reveal, Rosen and Weissman could get in trouble because the information is classified. Rosen later reflected that FBI wiretaps of the total war phone call to the Washington Post made them look very sinister and portrayed him as a secret agent rather than a lobbyist. It didnt help that Rosen later fled to meet with Israeli embassy officials after the FBI told him to get a lawyer. The historical record is very clear that the Rosen and Weissman tag team was conscientiously setting tripwires for regime change.
Dreyfuss chronicles Weissmans self-serving evaluation of the Israel lobby along a left-right spectrum, with FBI crackdowns on its neoconservative wing as driving the 2005 AIPAC espionage indictments. So what does Weissman think was going on? He believes that U.S. law enforcement officials, including the FBI, and CIA officials were so angry over the role of neoconservatives in backing the war in Iraq that they launched an investigation that sought to link Wolfowitz, Feith, and other Jewish Pentagon officials to Israeli intelligence, AIPAC, and a panoply of neocons at the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute, and other think tanks in Washington.
Weissmans self-portrayal is that of a progressive hero reining in AIPAC as its liaison to Palestinian and progressive groups while trundling around in a car with a Free Palestine bumper sticker. But AIPACs skillful use of Weissmanwho readily admits that his greatest attachment to AIPAC was a string of generous paychecksto access progressive and Palestinian groups is really no mystery. The lobby has always monitored even its weakest opposition closely, all the better to achieve an unopposed string of stunning successes for Israel, at great cost to America.
But the only frame more absurd than AIPACs claim to represent the American Jewish community is analyzing the Israel lobby from a right-left perspective. While AIPAC delights in creating an ongoing Democratic/Republican race for candidates to trot out their pro-Israel credentials, American taxpayers and voters are always the losers. Founder Isaiah L. Kenen gloated about roping The Nation Magazine Associates into his earliest Israel propaganda campaigns. Theres been even more noise of late as various progressive pundits and policy posers rush to carve out new positions in front of growing crowds of Americans outraged about the Israel lobbynow that its been fully flushed out in the open by Mearsheimer and Walt. But many progressive policy barkers continue to flog their skeptical acolytes with expired brands of snake oilthat everything of importance is really just a big left-right battle for influence over Israel and Mideast policy.
Its not and never has been.
The overarching problem is the Israel lobbys subversion of American governance through election fraud, the evasion of tax regulations and laws regulating foreign lobbies, and the systematized, ongoing infiltration of operatives into key government posts to advance the interests of a foreign state. Unfortunately for AIPAC, the Americans gathering to challenge it cross party lines. Whether they wear American flag pins on their suit lapels or Birkenstocks over wool socks is of ever declining significance. Weissman and his fellow travelers can try to outrun opponents by pulling an old horses head from right to left. Weissman clearly wants to tell his side of the story. But Weissman and Rosen will only reemerge as legitimate jockeys astride Americas policy circuits when they again register as AIPACs agents of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Read more by Grant Smith Obama vs. Reagan on AIPAC May 15th, 2011 Washington Showdown with AIPAC April 27th, 2011 Neoconomics: Conscription and War as Wealth March 27th, 2011 Pollard Espionage Ring Still Unfolding February 8th, 2011 AIPAC Protests Disclosure of Its Secret Files January 2nd, 2011
Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War
Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War
Israeli Nuke Double Standard:
Press TV’s Waqar Rizvi talks to James Morris on Israeli Nukes
Israel has a powerful stranglehold on the American government, controlling members of the House and Senate and involving the U.S. in wars in which it has little or no interest
“Israel has a powerful stranglehold on the American government,” controlling members of the House and Senate and involving the U.S. in wars in which it has little or no interest.
The Israel Lobby (John Mearsheimer interviewed):
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N294FMDok98]The Israel Lobby (Marije Meerman, VPRO Backlight 2007) - YouTube[/ame]
Additional at following URL:
War Without End :: View topic - U.S. Middle East policy motivated by pro-Israel lobby
PressTV Israel pushing Obama into war with Iran
PressTV - 'Israel pushing Obama into war with Iran'
US neo-cons seek war on Syria, Iran
US neo-cons seek war on Syria, Iran
Target Iran:
Target: Iran
Israel to attack Iran in September:
Israel to attack Iran in September?
Protestor BEATEN by AIPAC in House Gallery Arrested in Hospital
Protestor BEATEN by AIPAC in House Gallery Arrested in Hospital
Protestor BEATEN by AIPAC in House Gallery Arrested in Hospital
Posted in Zionist Threat
« Neocons Trade Medicare for War
Fox News Tired of War? »
18 Responses to AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran
Wake Up America!
Your Government is Hijacked by Zionism
« Neocons Trade Medicare for War
Fox News Tired of War? »
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran
June 15th, 2011 | Author: Patriot
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran (but doesnt want the blame)
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran by Grant Smith -- Antiwar.com
AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran
Posted By Grant Smith On June 14, 2011 @ 11:00 pm In Uncategorized | 14 Comments
Former AIPAC staffer Keith Weissman, indicted in 2005 under the Espionage Act alongside colleague Steven J. Rosen and Defense Department employee Col. Lawrence Franklin, is desperately worried. In a lengthy, rambling monologue delivered to independent reporter Robert Dreyfuss, Weissman breaks a long silence to declare hes concerned that if a confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran leads to war, it will be a disasterone that Weissman fears will be blamed on the American Jews. It is telling, but unsurprising, that Weissmanthrough misrepresentations and false dichotomyexhibits little concern for the broader potential consequence of war. Fortunately, his tired arguments are in a final lap toward oblivion.
AIPAC, in the business of advancing Israeli government policies in the United States ever since its founder left the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1951, has long portrayed itself as the sole distillery of Jewish policy needs to politicians eager to tap the Israel lobbys seemingly limitless barrels of campaign donations. But AIPACs brand has recently sprung a leak as growing numbers of youthful, creative, and noisy organizations challenge its tired claims of representation and even legitimacy. Weissmans actual concern is that AIPAC and its creaky constellation of affiliates will be blamed if the United States is successfully goaded or tripwired into an unnecessary war with Iran. Accountability has always been anathema for an organization operating more like a foreign intelligence agency than a tax-exempt social-welfare organization.
AIPAC has long brushed its footprints away from trapping pits into which it has successfully lured American taxpayers. The Los Angeles Times has lauded its donor secrecy, while Fortune called AIPAC calculatedly quiet. One anonymous AIPAC official even confided to The National Journal that there is no question that we exert a policy impact, but working behind the scenes and taking care not to leave fingerprints, that impact is not always traceable to us. According to the interview:
[Support for regime change] was the personal opinion of many people in AIPAC, but it never uttered the words regime change. And I think my efforts were part of the reason why they never did. How would it look anyway? This is what makes it so stupid! The American Jewish community choosing the next government of Iran? Helping to change the next government of Iran? How can that government have any legitimacy? Its completely ridiculous. And I think the arguments that I raised against it convinced AIPAC, no matter what they personally thought, they realized that what I was saying was right.
Weissmans overblown claims that he was a lone progressive hero fending off the Israel lobbys push for regime change from AIPACs Iran desk must be evaluated against the actual record. Dreyfuss notes that Weissman was indicted under the Espionage Act over AIPACs covert attempts to influence Iran policy, but he writes, Perhaps the full story of the Rosen-Weissman case, Franklins involvement, and what role was played by AIPAC and by Israel will never be known. Fortunately for readers, enough is now publicly known to discount Weissmans version, thanks to documents filed in Superior Court during a defamation suit last year.
According to court documents, Rosen and Weissman were both on a key phone call passing U.S. government classified information and spin to Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler in 2004. Rosen colorfully told Kessler that based on that information Iran was undeniably engaged in total war against the United States. Though AIPACs version of U.S. Iran assessments wasnt true at the time, and isnt true now, AIPACs motive for advancing it was clearto trigger U.S. military operations against Iran by stirring up American outrage through the establishment press. Weissman said nothing to deter Kessler from propagating the false threat.
Then, as now, Rosen and Weissmans operational concern was that they not suffer any consequences for shoveling tainted classified informationand that AIPAC not be implicated in the deed. Rosen told Kessler (with Weissman still on the line) that he was concerned about not getting into trouble [.pdf], meaning, as court documents reveal, Rosen and Weissman could get in trouble because the information is classified. Rosen later reflected that FBI wiretaps of the total war phone call to the Washington Post made them look very sinister and portrayed him as a secret agent rather than a lobbyist. It didnt help that Rosen later fled to meet with Israeli embassy officials after the FBI told him to get a lawyer. The historical record is very clear that the Rosen and Weissman tag team was conscientiously setting tripwires for regime change.
Dreyfuss chronicles Weissmans self-serving evaluation of the Israel lobby along a left-right spectrum, with FBI crackdowns on its neoconservative wing as driving the 2005 AIPAC espionage indictments. So what does Weissman think was going on? He believes that U.S. law enforcement officials, including the FBI, and CIA officials were so angry over the role of neoconservatives in backing the war in Iraq that they launched an investigation that sought to link Wolfowitz, Feith, and other Jewish Pentagon officials to Israeli intelligence, AIPAC, and a panoply of neocons at the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute, and other think tanks in Washington.
Weissmans self-portrayal is that of a progressive hero reining in AIPAC as its liaison to Palestinian and progressive groups while trundling around in a car with a Free Palestine bumper sticker. But AIPACs skillful use of Weissmanwho readily admits that his greatest attachment to AIPAC was a string of generous paychecksto access progressive and Palestinian groups is really no mystery. The lobby has always monitored even its weakest opposition closely, all the better to achieve an unopposed string of stunning successes for Israel, at great cost to America.
But the only frame more absurd than AIPACs claim to represent the American Jewish community is analyzing the Israel lobby from a right-left perspective. While AIPAC delights in creating an ongoing Democratic/Republican race for candidates to trot out their pro-Israel credentials, American taxpayers and voters are always the losers. Founder Isaiah L. Kenen gloated about roping The Nation Magazine Associates into his earliest Israel propaganda campaigns. Theres been even more noise of late as various progressive pundits and policy posers rush to carve out new positions in front of growing crowds of Americans outraged about the Israel lobbynow that its been fully flushed out in the open by Mearsheimer and Walt. But many progressive policy barkers continue to flog their skeptical acolytes with expired brands of snake oilthat everything of importance is really just a big left-right battle for influence over Israel and Mideast policy.
Its not and never has been.
The overarching problem is the Israel lobbys subversion of American governance through election fraud, the evasion of tax regulations and laws regulating foreign lobbies, and the systematized, ongoing infiltration of operatives into key government posts to advance the interests of a foreign state. Unfortunately for AIPAC, the Americans gathering to challenge it cross party lines. Whether they wear American flag pins on their suit lapels or Birkenstocks over wool socks is of ever declining significance. Weissman and his fellow travelers can try to outrun opponents by pulling an old horses head from right to left. Weissman clearly wants to tell his side of the story. But Weissman and Rosen will only reemerge as legitimate jockeys astride Americas policy circuits when they again register as AIPACs agents of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Read more by Grant Smith Obama vs. Reagan on AIPAC May 15th, 2011 Washington Showdown with AIPAC April 27th, 2011 Neoconomics: Conscription and War as Wealth March 27th, 2011 Pollard Espionage Ring Still Unfolding February 8th, 2011 AIPAC Protests Disclosure of Its Secret Files January 2nd, 2011
Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War
Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War
Israeli Nuke Double Standard:
Press TV’s Waqar Rizvi talks to James Morris on Israeli Nukes
Israel has a powerful stranglehold on the American government, controlling members of the House and Senate and involving the U.S. in wars in which it has little or no interest
“Israel has a powerful stranglehold on the American government,” controlling members of the House and Senate and involving the U.S. in wars in which it has little or no interest.
The Israel Lobby (John Mearsheimer interviewed):
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N294FMDok98]The Israel Lobby (Marije Meerman, VPRO Backlight 2007) - YouTube[/ame]
Additional at following URL:
War Without End :: View topic - U.S. Middle East policy motivated by pro-Israel lobby
PressTV Israel pushing Obama into war with Iran
PressTV - 'Israel pushing Obama into war with Iran'
US neo-cons seek war on Syria, Iran
US neo-cons seek war on Syria, Iran
Target Iran:
Target: Iran
Israel to attack Iran in September:
Israel to attack Iran in September?
Protestor BEATEN by AIPAC in House Gallery Arrested in Hospital
Protestor BEATEN by AIPAC in House Gallery Arrested in Hospital
Protestor BEATEN by AIPAC in House Gallery Arrested in Hospital
Posted in Zionist Threat
« Neocons Trade Medicare for War
Fox News Tired of War? »
18 Responses to AIPAC Pushes Hard for War With Iran